Eruption Producing Lava Fountains of up to 60 Meters

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Eruption Producing Lava Fountains of up to 60 Meters

The Holuhraun eruption this morning. Photo: Ármann Höskuldsson/University of Iceland.

The fissure eruption which started in Holuhraun, north of Vatnajökull glacier, just after 4:00 am this morning is producing lava fountains of up to 60 meters (200 feet).

This is the third eruption in the area in eight days.

The eruption is not coming from under a glacier, hence it is not as dangerous as one that might start under the Bárðarbunga volcano, which is covered by 400 to 600 meters of ice (1,300 to 2,000 feet).

Volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson told RÚV that the eruption is 10 to 20 times more powerful than the one which occurred on Friday morning. Still the lava fountains are not as tall as the ones during the Fimmvörðuháls eruption in 2010.

The south end of the fissure is in the same place as the eruption on Friday morning but it goes about 500 to 600 meters (1,600 to 2,000 feet) further north than the previous crack, into a sandy area.

The eruption could be seen on webcams this morning and a video was taken by one of the scientists (see our Facebook page). Currently, the weather conditions are very bad in most of Iceland, including the eruption area, visibility is almost zero and scientists have been called back to their basecamp.

The situation is not considered dangerous, but there is no domestic flight due to the bad weather.

See our Facebook page for photos and a video of the eruption. Follow Iceland Review for continued coverage of events.